Milkyways

Yeah! weird but cool Are you an international?

I am stunned.... I just received a call from USC roski ....it's absolutely STRANGE since I had not been notified about anything (I had assumed rejection) and just received a call to have a short "phone conversation" (they didn't say interview).... I wonder what it means....maybe someone said no and I was on their waitlist but they hadn't notified me ? Anyways, very short phone conversation and I am very happy about the possibilities of living in LA Fingers crossed

Carter, what kind of work do you do? I know quite a few MFA students at Hunter and I believe everybody is pretty happy here ( I am in a studio currently lol). The second year studios are super nice. And being in New York is great because of the events, openings etc. The open studios are rather informal but there is a lot of crowd seeing what graduates are doing, and that's the biggest plus of Hunter's location. There are quite a few successful Hunter mfa alumni, so people are paying attention too. But if you already live here, it might not be as exciting or advantageous. Honestly, if Rutgers is giving you enough money to cover tuition and living expenses, I'd consider their offer very seriously. You might not have to relocate for Hunter, but you'll need to keep working to support yourself and pay tuition ( This can be detrimental to your performance, unless you actually like your job enough to keep it for other reasons besides money). A friend of mine is going through a lot of stress because of that. He feels he doesn't get enough time in the studio because he needs to work to pay the bills. So if the money they are offering you alleviates your workload, go with Rutgers. Otherwise Hunter is a good deal. * actually there are open studios next friday, I suppose you are coming right?

My case, any insight is very appreciated: So far I have been offered something that would be +5k/year both for Cornell and Alfred ( between tuition waivers and TA) , +15k 1st year and +5k 2d and 3d year for Maryland University, and am still waiting for results in Northwestern and CMU. Maryland University-College Park 's offer is excellent for the first year because of a 10k fellowship , but for 2d and 3d year it is the same as Alfred and Cornell. So there's not a big difference financially. Cornell and Alfred are very similar financially. Both offer very good funding, and it comes to a matter of the emphasis of the program. I like Cornell's interdisciplinary approach, and Alfred's strength in material experimentation. Tough choice. Even if I have no idea wether I'll get into CMU or not (I'd love to) I have read in the forums that even though funding is good, the balance would be something like -9000/ year. Now considering that CMU is a 3 year program, it would come to a 27k total, plus living expenses. This is a dream program, but I am far from being affluent so I would have to think how I could cover these costs. What do you think? do you have similar concerns?

just posted this

Hey everybody. As acceptances are coming, I'd like to see what kind of funding opportunities are offered and what weight this has on your program selection.

Just had Carnegie Mellon phone interview with Kim beck. Extremely sweet person, helped a lot to ease my nerves. She said we should be hearing from them no sooner than 2 weeks from now, so I guess that for all CMU semi-finalists, it's just time to wait Congrats to everybody who has gotten acceptances so far. I second the idea of discussing funding opportunities and possible effects on choosing. I wonder if opening a new thread about this would be better. For those who haven't gotten any acceptances yet, hang in there until the very end, and keep in mind that the application process isn't a standard thing for everybody. It might take a second try or even more. Start gathering more info on programs you might like attending. The info in the grad cafe was extremely useful for my selection: this is my second time around and this past year was very productive. Keep working !

In results search someone posted today he had received an interview request on feb 27th.

I am with you when you say that it's much better to invest in materials than to worry about a debt. And debt is scary. I myself am just applying to fully funded programs. But the question is , do these top schools really offer a better future overall? It's not just the prestige or the networking opportunities, it's more the fact that "SAIC" or "Yale" written in your curriculum might give you many more chances of being chosen in most art-related institutions. You will have more chances of being seen by curators, of being chosen for residencies, and even being hired in a university. You might get more fellowships to produce more work, you might even be hired for other culture-related jobs... I don't know if this is true, but I guess this is what many think when they engage in a $100 k debt for an MFA. Some friends from Hunter were saying that prestigious schools (which are not necessarily the same as prestigious programs), may be an advantage for the first 2 years after graduation, and then it will be the work that will matter the most. I don't know what to make of this. As far as gallery representation, I recall reading an analysis in the grad cafe about the percentage of artists with a bfa or mfa from prestigious schools being the majority. In my case, I am not commercial, it is not within my goals to be sold in galleries, but I do worry about earning a living so I can live an artist life. This is when choosing a prestigious school stops being a frivolous decision. Even so, I wouldn't dare judging people for doing it only for the connections. It's their bet. At the end it all depends on your reasons to pursue an mfa. It's already an investment of both time and money. Honestly, if you're not wealthy enough and don't have a monetary support system that could provide you with economic help (such as wealthy parents), going in such a debt is quite a risky bet. Nothing guarantees that you will be successful, even with the advantage provided by the name of the program. The article went in the opposite direction of your ideas thecoalmine, it actually implied that this woman didn't become successful partly because she didn't attend a prestigious university...

wow impressive you must have an amazing portfolio

Honestly I really hope they will contact me soon. I really like the broad spectrum of the program and the way they have outlined its conceptual bases. It seems very stimulating. Was the interview relaxed or more on the in-depth kind? I hope your interview went well, you seem like a nice person

you could log in your application account and check if the university has updated results. Or you could call their admissions office... but they might not want to give you that info

they don't like meee :'( lol

Haven't gotten anything yet I haven't received any sort of communication from them directly, but I assumed rejection since last week (I believe Friday) someone in this forum said he had been contacted for an interview with them.

I'll lose the pounds I've gained after I know where I'm going. For know indulging in all sorts of chocolate and fat. And yeah it felt good

Just called Marchy. We're enemies officially XD just kidding. Apparently they need to contact our recommenders before assigning an interview, or that's what I understood. Let's hope we all get in. Keni also said we should hear from someone called "kim back" lol and for now, we only can wait

Same. I'm calling tomorrow as you suggested.

There's not much data on the results search part, but I get the impression they send some email rejections first in february then most people get their rejections by mid March. I saw there was an acceptance last year on March 10th, so my guess is that interviews must have taken place before the 5th. I believe we should assume rejection by now if we didn't get an invitation last week.

Shoot. Oh well, going to update my signature accordingly. Good luck with your USC interview. The faculty is cool and living in LA was a very attractive idea. It would be great if you put it on the results section, for next generations' sake. Yeah CMU was my long shot. But I'm glad I don't need to wait any longer to hear from any other school for now.

From the results section I can see that interview requests have been sent in previous years, even if I can't recall seeing information about interviews on their website. Actually just having taken a second look at previous years' results, I felt a little less optimistic about the situation :/

Thanks! you're doing pretty well yourself I hope to hear from them soon, February is over and we need to make our decisions now ! I do not have a linked in account nor keep track of my website visitors, so I can't really tell if they have viewed my profile. My first thought was actually that there might have been something wrong with my application, for it's odd to get notice of some rejections but no interviews...let's hope it's a good sign as you say.

Did anyone get interview requests from CMU?

Today I had my Cornell interview and it was quite odd. First, I got an email confirming a skype interview , and 15 minutes after the time we had agreed on I had not received a call. I sent an email and apparently there had been a confusion (they were waiting for me to go in person!!!) After that, the interview started with everybody introducing themselves. It was quite a surprise to see that there were 4 members of the faculty, but also 4 mfa students. Is that usual?? They were very nice, but I can't deny this was unexpected and made me even more nervous. I had to present my work in 20 minutes and then we would have 20 minutes for questions. I had prepared a portfolio and I felt I kind of over prepared the presentation, I felt I was talking way too much time and going into deep details, and then...I started seeing people walk away in the middle of the interview...that was terrifying (( They didn't even say goodbye as they left Maybe it's better to keep it short and to the point. Well...we will see. I really want to get into this program.

Congrats everybody on Hunter interviews. My boyfriend has loved it there, the studios are ridiculously good for nyc standards and the community is super active. Get ready for high living expenses though! Still worth every penny.